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BY 



Dr. Hunter McGuire 




Medical Director Second Army Corps (Stonewall Jackson's), 
Army of Northern Virginia. 



Delivered on 23d day of June, 1897, at the Virginia Military 

Institute, in the presence of a vast audience, upon the 

occasion of the Inauguration of the Stone-wall 

Jackson Memorial Building. 



PUBLISHED BY THE VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE. 




LYNCHBURG, VA. 
J. P. Bbli, Company, Book, Job and Commerciai, Printbrs. 

1897. 



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5>2i 





Mr. President; General; Cadets of the Virginia Military Institute; 
Ladies and Gentlemen : 

I understand, and I beg this audience to understand, that I am here 
to-day, not because I have any place among the orators, or am able to 
do anything except "to speak right on" and " tell you that which 
you yourselves do know"; but because the noblest heritage I shall 
hand down to my children is the fact that Stonewall Jackson conde- 
scended to hold and to treat me as his friend. I know, and you know, 
that as long as valor and virtue are honored among men, as long as 
greatness of mind and grandeur of soul excite our admiration ; as long 
as Virginia parents desire noble examples to set before their sons, and 
as long as there dwells in the souls of Virginia boys that fire of native 
nobleness which can be kindled by tales of heroic endeavor, so long 
will Virginia men and women be ready to hear of the words and the 
deeds of Virginia's heroic sons, and therefore ready and glad to hear 
how valorous and how virtuous, how great and how grand in every 
thought and action was the Virginian of whom I speak to-day — to 
know in what awesome Titanic mould was cast that quiet professor who 
once did his duty here ; that silent stranger Avhom no man knew until 
' ' the fire of God fell upon him in the battlefield, " as it did upon Ar- 
thur — the fire by which Sir Launcelot 'knew him for his king,' — 
the fire that like the ' ' live coal from off" the altar touched the lips ' ' 
of Jackson and brought from them that kingly voice which the eagle 
of victory knew and obeyed. For a king was Stonewall Jackson, if 
ever royalty, annointed as by fire, appeared among men. 

When Egypt, or Persia, or Greece, or Rome was the world ; when 
the fame of a king reached the borders of his own dominion, but 
scarcely crossed them ; when a great conqueror was known as far as 
his banners could fly, friends (or enemies) could assign a warrior's 
rank amongst mankind, and his place in history. These lat^r ages 
have agreed that a Rameses, a Cyrus, an Alexander, or a Constantine 
shall be styled "The Great" — accepting therein the estimate put 
upon them by the contracted times in which they lived, supported per- 
chance by* the story of their deeds as laboriously chiseled on some long 
buried slab, recorded on some hardly recovered sheets of ancient 
parchment, or written on some dozen pages of a literature, the lan- 
guage of which serves the purposes of the ghosts along the Styx, as 
they tell each other of glories long departed. 



To-day the world is wide, , ^%«a.Ub^*^_^ / ^^^-j^ ^g^^. 

didate for historic honors must appear. The woria s estimate, and 
that alone, posterity will accept, and even that it will hereafter most 
carefully revise. 

The young Emperor of Germany, seeking to decree his grandfather's 
place in history, would have him styled "William the Great." Here 
and there, in one nation and another, press and people combine to deify 
some popular hero and offer him for the plaudits or the worship of the 
age. It is a vain endeavor. The universal judgment cannot be fore- 
stalled. No force or artifice can make mankind accept as final the 
false estimate instead of the true. Money, powerful, dangerous and 
threatening as it now is in this republic, cannot for long buy a verdict. 
The unbiased world alone is capable of stamping upon the forehead of 
man that mark, which neither the injustice of adverse interest, nor 
envy's gnawing tooth, nor the ceaseless flow of the river of time are 
able to efface. 

Therefore, it was with swelling heart and deep thankfulness that I 
recently heard some of the first soldiers and military students of En- 
gland declare that within the past two hundred years the English 
speaking race has produced but five soldiers of the first rank — Marl- 
borough, Washington, Wellington, Robert Lee, and Stonewall Jack- 
son. I heard them declare that Jackson's campaign in the Shenan- 
doah Valley, in which you, and you, and you, and I myself in my 
subordinate place, followed this immortal, was the finest specimen of 
strategy and tactics of which the world has any record; that in this 
series of marches and battles there was never a blunder committed by 
Jackson; that this campaign in the Valley was superior to either of 
those made by Napoleon in Italy. One British officer, who teaches 
strategy in a great European college, told me that he used this cam- 
paign as a model of strategy and tactics and dwelt upon it for several 
months in his lectures; that it was taught for months of each session 
in the schools of Germany ; and that Von Moltke, the great strategist, 
declared it was without a rival in the world's history. This same 
British officer told me that he had ridden on horseback over the bat- 
tlefields of the Valley and carefully studied the strategy and tactics 
there displayed by Jackson. He had followed him to Richmond, 
where he joined with Lee in the campaign against McClellan in 1862; 
that he had followed his detour around Pope; his management of his 
troops at Manassas; that he had studied his environment of Harper's 
Feri-y and its capture; his part of the fight at Sharpsburg, and his 



flank movement around Hooker, — and that he had never blundered. 
"Indeed," he added, "Jackson seemed to me (him) inspired." 
Another British soldier told me that for its numbers the Army of 
Northern Virginia had more force and power than any other army 
that ever existed. 

High as is my estimate of tlie deeds of the Second Corps of the Army 
of Northern Virginia I heard these opinions with a new elation, for I 
knew they presented the verdict of impartial history; the verdict that 
posterity will stamp with its approval; a verdict — in itself such a 
tribute to valor and virtue, devotion and truth — as shall serve to in- 
spire, exalt and ennoble our children and our children's children to 
the remotest generation. 

You will not be surprised to hear of my telling them that of these 
five, thus overtopping all the rest, three were born in the State of 
Virginia; nor wonder that I reverently remember that two of them lie 
side by side here in Lexington, while one is sleeping by the great 
river, there to sleep till time shall be no more, — the three conse- 
crating in death the soil of Virginia, as in life they stamped their 
mother State as the native home of men who, living as they lived, 
shall be fit to go on quest for the Holy Grail. 

And now I hope I may be able to tell you what evidences of this 
accredited greatness — what warrant for the justness of this verdict — 
I, and others with me, saw in the quiet of the camp and in the rush of 
the battle; and how I saw with my eyes, and stand here to declare, 
that his greatness vanished not, nor faded, but the brighter shone, 
when the shadows of evening were falling and the darkness of death 
gathered round. 

In seeking to define Jackson's place in history I accept Lord Wolse- 
ley's definition of a great commander. He declares in effect that 
the marks of this rare character are : First of all — the power — the 
instinct — the inspiration — to divine the condition and purposes of 
your enemy. Secondly — the genius that in strategy instantly devises 
the combinations most likely to defeat those purposes. Thirdly — the 
physical and moral courage — the absolute self-reliance — that takes 
the risk of decision, and the skill that promptly and properly delivers 
the blow that shatters the hostile plans, so managing one's own forces 
(even when small) as to have the greater number at the point of at- 
tack. Fourthly — the cool judgment that is unshaken by the clash 
and clamor of emergencies. And last, but not least, the prevision, the 
caution that cares for the lives and well-being of the private soldiers, 



6 

and the personal magnetism that rouses the enthusiasm and affection 
that make the commander's presence on the battle-field the incentive 
to all that human beings can dare, and the unquestioned hope and sure 
promise of victory. 

Many incidents of Jackson's career prove that he possessed the in- 
stinctive power to knoAV the plight and to foretell the purposes of the 
Federal army and its commanders. To describe the first that I recall : 
While dressing his wounded hand at the first Mauassas at the field 
hospital of the Brigade at Young's Branch near the Lewis house, I saw 
President Davis ride up from Manassas. He had been told by strag- 
glers that our army had been defeated. He stopped his horse in the 
middle of the little stream, stood up in his stirrups (the palest, stern- 
est face I ever saw) and cried to the great crowd of soldiers, " I am 
President Davis — follow me back to the field." General Jackson 
did not hear distinctly. I told him who it was and what he said. 
He stood up, took off' his cap and cried, ' ' We have whipped them — 
they ran like sheep. Give me 10,000 men and I will take Washing- 
ton City to-morrow. ' ' Who doubts now that he could have done so ? 

AVhen, in May, 1862, he Avhipped Banks at Winchester and had, 
what seemed then and even now, the audacity to follow him to Harp- 
er's Ferry, he not only knew the number and condition of Banks' 
army, but in his mind he clearly saw the locality and strength of the 
armies of Fremont and McDowell, gradually converging from the east 
and west toAvards Strasburg to cut off his retreat. He knew the leaders 
of these hostile forces, their skill and moral courage, and calculated on 
it, and this so nicely that he was able to pass between them without a 
moment to spare. Indeed, he held these hosts apart with his skirm- 
ishers while his main army passed through, each commander of the 
Federal army in doubt and dread whether the mighty and mysterious 
Jackson intended one of his overwhelming blows for him. Both, 
doubtless, hoping the other one would catch it. Certainly they acted 
in a way to indicate this. 

AVith the help of Ashby and Stuart he always knew the location 
and the strength of his enemy. He knew the fighting quality of the 
enemy's forces too. "Let the Federals get very close," he said to 
Ewell at Cross Keys, ' ' before your infantry fires ; they won' t stand 
long." I asked him at Cedar Run if he expected a battle that day. 
He smiled and said, ' ' Banks is in our front and he is generally willing 
to fight, and," he added very slowly, and as if to himself, "and he 
generally gets whipped." 



At Malvern Hill, when a 'portion of our army was beaten and to 
some extent demoralized, Hill and Ewell and Early came to tell him 
that they could make no resistance if McClellan attacked them in the 
morning. It was difficult to wake General Jackson, as he was ex- 
hausted and very sound asleep. I tried it myself, and after many 
efforts partly succeeded. When he was made to understand what was 
wanted, he said, ' * McClellan and his army will be gone by daylight, ' ' 
and went to sleep again. The generals thought him mad, but the 
prediction was true. 

At Sharpsburg, when on the 17th our army had repulsed three 
great assaults in succession and was reduced to a thin line, happening 
to have urgent business that took me to the front, I expressed to Gen- 
eral Jackson my apprehension lest the surging mass of the enemy 
might get through. He replied, " I think they have done their worst 
and there is now no danger of the line being broken." McClellan's 
inaction during the long 18th, Avhen General Lee stood firm and offered 
him battle, proves that Jackson knew his enemy's condition. 

At Fredericksburg, after Burnside's repulse, he asked me how many 
bandages I had. I told him, and asked why he wanted to know. He 
said that he wanted to have a piece of white cloth to tie on each man's 
arm, that his soldiers might recognize each other in a night attack, and 
he asked to be allowed to make such an attack and drive the foe into 
the swollen river or capture him. Subsequent events demonstrated 
that he would have accomplished his purpose. 

It was said that at a council of war, called by General Lee after 
the Fredericksburg battle, Jackson went to sleep during the discussion, 
and when suddenly aroused and asked for his advice he simply replied : 
* * Drive them into the river. ' ' 

That he possessed the genius to devise and the skill and courage to 
deliver the blow needed to defeat his foes, — is it not amply proved by 
the general fact that his army in the Valley campaign was never over 
17,000, and generally less, and that for a time he was keeping at bay 
100,000 Federal soldiers — 60,000 in or near the great valley, and 
40, 000 at Fredericksburg — soundly thrashing in the field, from time 
to time, large portions of this great army. Not to mention details, 
Jackson and his small force influenced the campaign to the extent of 
keeping 100,000 Federal troops away from Kichmond, and compelling 
the Federal government to employ a larger force than the whole of the 
Confederate army in order, as Lincoln said, ' 'to protect the National Cap- 
ital. ' ' In the operations necessary to accomplish this result, he encoun- 



8 

tered one (his first and only) defeat, that at Kerstown, which he and oth- 
ers, who trusted his judgment, believed was due to an untimely order to 
fall back, given by one of his bravest and truest of brigade commanders. 
But that defeat Avas so full of brilliant results to our cause that the 
Confederate Congress thanked him for the battle. The gallant and 
brilliant officer who gave this order was put under arrest (whether 
wisely or not, is not for present discussion), but the effect was to pre- 
vent any other man or officer from ordering a reti-eat on any subsequent 
field of battle where Jackson was, whether out of ammunition or not. 

Thence he went immediately to McDowell, Winchester, Cross Keys, 
and Port Republic, winning battle after battle, having always the 
smaller army, but the larger number actually fighting (except at Cross 
Keys), illustrating the truth of what a Federal officer tells us a yan- 
kee soldier said after the stern struggle at Groveton : ' ' These rebels 
always put their small numbers in strong positions, and then manage to 
be the stronger at the point Avhere the rub comes. ' ' And so, notwith- 
standing the tremendous odds against him in the whole theatre, he met 
another test of a great commander, in concentrating against his oppo- 
nent the larger force. 

I cannot give you any instances or illustrations of the mental action 
by which he reached his conclusions or devised the combinations which 
defeated his enemy; for Jackson took no counsel save Avith his " famil- 
iar, " the Genius of War, and his God. He did hold one, and only one, 
council of war. In March, 1862, at Winchester, Jackson had in his small 
army less than 5,000 men. Gen. Banks, AA'ho Avas advancing upon 
Winchester from Harper' s Ferry and CharlestoAvn, had 30,000 soldiers. 
Gen. Jackson repeatedly offered Gen. Banks battle, but the latter de- 
clined, and on the night of the 11th of March went into camp four 
miles from Winchester. Gen. Jackson sent for his officers and proposed 
to make a night attack, but the plan Avas not approved by the council. 
He sent for the officers a second time, some hours later, and again 
urged them to agree to make the night assault, but they again disap- 
proved of the attempt. So, late in the afternoon, Ave withdrew from 
Winchester and marched to NcAvton. I rode AA'ith the General as Ave 
left the place, and as Ave reached a high jjoint overlooking the toAvn, we 
both turned to look at Winchester, just evacuated, and now left to the 
mercy of the Federal soldiers. I think that a man may sometimes yield 
to overwhelming emotion, and I Avas utterly overcome by the fact that I 
Avas leaving all that I held dear on earth, but my emotion was arrested 
by one look at Jackson. His face Avas fairly blazing with the fire that 



was burning in hini, and I felt awed before him. Presently he cried 
out with a manner almost savage: "That is the last council of war I 
will ever hold! " And it was — his first and last. Thereafter he held 
• council in the secret chambers of his own heai't, and acted. Instan- 
taneous decision, absolute self-reliance, every action, every word dis- 
played. His voice displayed it in battle. It was not the peal of the 
trumpet, but the sharp crack of the rifle — suddeu, imperative, resolute. 

I venture a word as to battles in which Jackson's conduct has been 
criticised. The delay at Gaines Mill has been the subject of much 
comment. The truth is that General Lee directed Jackson to place his 
corps on our extreme left, Avhere he would be joined by the command 
of D. H. Hill. He ordered him to form in line of battle with Hill, 
and Avait until McClellan retreated towards the Pamunkey and then to 
strike bim a side blow and capture him. For this purpose Jackson had, 
with Hill's division, 25,500 men. When we arrived at Gaines Mill, 
T>. H. Hill had engaged the enemy. Jackson, obeying Lee's instruc- 
tions, sent an aide to inform Hill of the orders of the Commander-in- 
Chief, and it was with some difficulty that he withdrew him from the fight. 
It was only when Jackson found that McClellan was not being driven 
from his works that he put into the battle every man he had. 

Gen. Jackson waited at White Oak Swamp during the battle of 
Frayser's Farm because he was directed to stay on this road until fur- 
ther orders. As a soldier he could do nothing else. He gave the same 
unquestioned obedience to the officer above him that he demanded of 
those under his control. Moreover, the stream was imj^assable for in- 
fantry under fire, and impassable for artillery without a bridge. Jackson 
and his staff, Avith Col. Munford's. cavalry, tested it, riding across 
through quagmires that took us up to the girths of our horses; but by 
a fierce artillery attack he kept Franklin's and part of Sumner's corps 
from joining Avith McCall to resist the attack at Frayser's Farm. This 
attack Gen. Jackson began Avith twenty-eight pieces of artillery at 12 
o'clock that day. The battle at Frayser's Farm began at 5 o'clock the 
same afternoon. AVhite Oak Swamp road is but five miles distant. If 
General Lee had wanted Jackson he could have sent for him, but 
General Lee did not Avant him. He expected to defeat McCall, and 
isolate Franklin and Sumner, and then capture them AAuth Jackson's co- 
operation, from the position he kncAA' he occupied. 

Cedar Run battle has been criticised as a barren victory, but while 
it did not accomplish all that Jackson intended, it Avas far from barren 
in its results. Pope, Avho had more than double the force of Jackson, 



10 

was preparing to attack us at Gordonsville and destroy the railroad. 
We remained two weeks at Gordonsville, waiting for Pope to make a 
false move, when, finding that Pope's divisions were widely separated — 
the left wing being at Fredericksburg and the right, under Siegel, at 
Sperryville, fifty miles from the left wing, the main army on the Rap- 
pahannock — with Banks thrown out to Culpeper Courthouse — Jackson 
determined to strike them in detail. 

I know this was his purpose, and his after report proves it. He in- 
tended first to attack his old antagonist. Banks, at Culpeper, and then 
to descend like a thunderbolt on McDowell at Fredericksburg. On 
our route we lost an entire day because one of the division commanders 
marched two miles instead of twenty-five. This gave Pope time to 
concentrate his forces. That night, as we pursued the beaten army of 
Gen. Banks, we captured some of McDowell's men, proving that the 
Federals had had time to concentrate, and this prevented him from car- 
rying out his original plan of striking in detail. As it was, Banks' 
army was so crippled as to be "of little use, " as Gen. Pope reports, 
" during the rest of that campaign." The prestige of our troops and 
commanders was raised, and the Federal confidence in Pope diminished. 
But, more than this, and more important. Pope's plans were discon- 
certed and ten days were gained, by which time Gen. Lee and the rest 
of our army joined us. 

The imperturbable coolness of a great commander was pre-eminently 
his. He was always calm and self-controlled. He never lost his bal- 
ance for one moment. At the first Manassas, when we reached the field 
and found our men under Bee and Bartow falling back — when the con- 
fusion was greatest, and Bee in despair cried out, " They are driving us 
back" — there was not the slightest emotion apparent about him. His 
thin lips were compressed and his eyes ablaze when he curtly said, 
"Then, sir, we will give them the bayonet." At Port Republic, 
where he was so nearly captured, as he escaped he instantly ordered 
the Thirty-seventh Virginia regiment, which was fortunately near at 
hand and in line, to charge through the bridge and capture the Federal 
piece of artillery placed at its mouth. 

In the very severe engagement at Chantilly, fought during a heavy 
thunder storm, when the voice of the artillery of heaven could scarcely 
be told from that of the army, an aide came up with a message from 
A. P. Hill that his ammunition was wet, and that he asked leave to 
retire. ' ' Give my compliments to General Hill, and tell him that the 
yankee ammunition is as wet as his; to stay where he is. " There was 



11 

always danger and blood when he began his terse sentences with ' ' Give 
my compliments." 

One of the most striking illustrations of his courage and absolute 
self-reliance was shown at the battle of Groveton. He had been de- 
tached from General Lee's army, and in a march of two days captured 
Manassas Junction directly in Pope's rear and destroyed the immense 
stores accumulated at that point. After this he marched his command 
to a field wiiich gave him a good defensive position, and the readiest 
means of junction with Lougstreet. At that point, if he was com- 
pelled to retreat, he had the Aldie Gap behind him through Avhich he 
could pass and rejoin General Lee. Pope, disappointed at not finding 
Jackson at Manassas, and confused by the different movements that 
diflTereut portions of Jackson's corps had made, was utterly disconcerted 
and directed his army to move towards Centreville, where they could 
easily join with the forces of McClellan then at Alexandria. Almost 
any other soldier would have been satisfied with what had already been 
accomplished — the destruction of the immense stores of the enemy — 
the forcing of Pope from the Rappahannock to Bull Run, and the de- 
moralization produced in the Federal army; but General Jackson knew 
that the Cenfederate design demanded that a battle with Pope should 
be made before reinforcements were received from McClellan, and so he 
determined with his little army to attack the Federal forces and compel 
them to stop and give battle. 

Our army lay concealed by the railroad cut, the woods and the con- 
figuration of the ground, near the same field that we liad fought the 
first battle of Manassas. The different columns of the enemy were 
moving in such a confused way that it was difficult to tell Avhat they in- 
tended. General Jackson, who had been up the whole of the previous 
night, directing the movements of his troops, was asleep in a fence 
corner, when mounted scouts came in to inform us that a large body of 
Pope's army was moving past on the Warrenton road and in the direc- 
tion of Centreville. As soon as he was waked and informed of the state 
of affairs. General Jackson sprang up and moved rapidly towards his 
horse, buckling on his sword as he moved and urging the greatest speed 
on all around him, directing Ewell and Taliaferro to attack the enemy. 
With about 20,000 men he attacked Pope's army of 77,000 soldiers, 
so determined was he that Pope should not escape to Centreville, there 
to inti'ench and wait for the reinforcements of McClellan then on their 
way to him. The attack that evening brought on the bloody battle of 
Groveton. 



12 

I must recur to the battle of Sharpsburg, as that Avas one of the 
sternest trials to which Jackson was ever subjected. Eighty thousand 
Federal soldiers under McClellan attacked 35,000 Confederates under 
Lee, making the contest a most unequal one. It was a pitched battle 
in an open field. There were no fortifications or intrenchments, and the 
ground, as far as sites for artillery went, was decidedly more favorable 
for the Federals. To defend the left wing of the Confederate line 
Jackson had, including D. H. Hill's three brigades, less than 8,000 
men. In front of him was Hooker with 15,000, Mansfield with 10,000, 
and [^Sumner with Sedgwick's division, 6,000; 8,000 Confederates to 
31,000 veteran Federal soldiers. Hooker, at daylight, attacked and 
was routed. Then Mansfield came over the same ground and met the 
same fate. Then Sumner came up and was thrashed. Eight thousand 
half-starved, shoeless, ragged Confederates had routed 31,000 of 
McClellan' s best soldiers, and in a plain open field without an intrench- 
ment. But the 8,000 Confederates were veterans and were com- 
manded by Stonewall Jackson. That night 20, 000 dead and wounded 
men lay on the field of Sharpsburg. 

About 1 o' clock that day I rode forward to see the General. I found 
him a little to the left of the Dunkard Church. I remember that I 
had my saddle pockets filled with peaches to take to him — knowing 
how much he enjoyed fruit — and was eating a peach when I approached 
him. The first thing he asked me was if I had any more. I told him 
yes, that I had brought him some. After he got them he began to eat 
them ravenously, so much so, that he apologized and told me he had 
had nothing to eat that day. I told him why I had come. That our 
lines were so thin and the enemy so strong that I was afraid that at 
some point our line might be broken and, in the rush, the hospital cap- 
tured. He was perfectly cool and quiet, although he had withstood 
three separate attacks of vastly superior numbers. He thought the 
enemy had done their worst, and made me the reply I have already 
quoted, but he agreed that I should establish the hospital at Shepherds- 
town. Before returning to my post I rode forward with him to see the 
old Stonewall Division. They had been reduced to a very small body 
of men and were commanded by Col. Grigsby. In some places lieu- 
tenants commanded brigades; sergeants, regiments. Nearly all of his 
generals had fallen, but he had two left who were hosts in themselves, 
the unconquerable D. H. Hill, and that grand old soldier, Jubal Early. 

While talking to Grigsby I saw off at a distance in a field men lying 
down, and supposed it was a line of battle. I asked Colonel Grigsby 



13 

why he did not move that line of battle to make it conform to his own, 
when he said, "Those men you see lying over there, which you sup- 
pose to be in line of battle, are all dead men. They are Georgia 
soldiers. ' ' It was a stern struggle, but Jackson always expected to 
hold his lines. I heard hini once say, " We sometimes fail to drive 
the enemy from his position. He always fails to drive us." But he 
was never content with the defensive, however successful or however 
exhausting. In this most destructive battle he was looking all of that 
day for a chance to make a counter-stroke. He urged General McLaws, 
who had been sent to his assistance, to move forward and attack the 
enemy's right flank, but Gen. McLaws was so hotly engaged with those 
directly in front that he never had an opportunity to do what General 
Jackson desired. Other efforts, with the same intent, marked his con- 
duct during all that day. 

His tactics were almost always offensive, and by his marvellous strat- 
egy and skill, by his consummate daring and absolute confidence in 
himself and his men, he made up for his deficiency in numbers. 
When circumstances obliged him to act upon the defensive, always at 
such times he kept in view the counter-stroke. He did not wish to 
fight at Fredericksburg. His objection was, that there was no room 
for this return blow in the day-time, with the enemy's guns on Stafford 
Heights. 

I cannot refrain from speaking of the statement, recently made, that 
General Jackson advised General Lee, on the night of the 17th of Sep- 
tember, to cross the Potomac back into Virginia. I think it is a mis- 
take. He told me at 1 o'clock that McClellan had done his worst. He 
was looking all the afternoon for a chance to strike the enemy, but he 
never had sufiicient force to do it. He agreed with General Lee en- 
tirely during the whole of this campaign, and especially during this 
battle. General Lee writes, in a letter which I have recently read : 
"When he (Jackson) came upon the field, having preceded his troops, 
and learned my reasons for offering battle, he emphatically agreed 
with me. When I determined to withdraw and cross the Potomac he 
also agreed and said, in view of all the circumstances, it was better to 
have fought the battle in JMaryland than to have left it without a strug- 
gle." I say it with all possible deference to a distinguished soldier, 
and most respected gentleman, but there is every indication that Gen- 
eral Stephen D. Lee's recollection as to Jackson's having pi-oposed to 
cross the river on the night of the 17th, is at fault. He says, at the 
interview he reports, that Longstreet came first and made his report. 



14 

Longstreet says in his book that he was the last to come. General Lee's 
letter, above referred to, shows the entire concurrence between himself 
and General Jackson with respect to their movements both before and 
after the battle. That General Jackson should have advised Lee, 
without being asked, to cross the river the night of the 17th, is entirely 
at variance with his character. It was a liberty he certainly never 
would have permitted one of his subordinates to take with him. 

As for his care for the lives of his men, the great military critics, 
whose opinions I have quoted, told me that in this especially appeared 
the superiority of the Valley campaign to the Italian campaigns of 
Napoleon. While the strategetical combinations were equally rapid 
and eftective, the successes wei'e attained Avith a proportion of loss to 
numbers engaged comparatively small. In the whole Valley campaign 
his losses did not exceed 2,500 men. His care was not only for numbei's 
but for individuals. It was my habit to tell him after a battle the whole 
sad story of the losses as they came under my observation. He always 
waited for this detailed report, and when I was delayed he would order 
that he should be waked up Avhen I came in. Presently I shall have 
occasion to show you how, from time to time, he received such news. 
His commissaries and quartermasters know how minutely he looked 
into all the details of their departments. To give only one illustration 
of his care of his soldiers: I remember in our march to the rear of 
Pope's army, which we made without any supply train, he called for 
two of his officers, and sent them with a squad of cavalry ahead of his 
army to tell the people he was coming, and to ask them to send some 
provisions to his men. The people responded nobly to this appeal and 
brought liberal supplies of flour and meat and other things to the 
troops, and Jackson recognized the fact that these officers and the 
people had done good service that day. 

Had he the personal magnetism that characterizes a great com- 
mander ? Did he arouse the enthusiasm of his men ? 

What army ever had more unbounded confidence in its general than 
did the army of Jackson — and what general ever trusted and de- 
pended on his army more than Jackson ? 

Jackson knew the value of the Southern volunteer better and sooner 
(as I believe) than any other of our great leaders. When General 
Johnston took charge at Harper's Ferry, the general staff went with 
the command. One day, when the Second Virginia Regiment, com- 
posed of men from my country, marched by, I said to him, " If these 
men of the Second Virginia will not fight you have no troops that 



15 

will." He expressed the prevalent but afterward changed opinion of 
that early day in his reply, saying, " I would not give one company of 
regulars for the whole regiment. " AVhen I returned to General Jack- 
son's staff I had occasion to quote to him General Johnston's opinion. 
" Did he say that," he asked, " and of those splendid men ? " And 
then he added, "The patriot volunteer fighting for country and his 
rights makes the most reliable soldier on earth." 

Was the confidence returned? When, at sight of him, the battle 
shout of fighting thousands shook the far heavens, Avho could doubt its 
meaning ! Did his men love him ? What need of proof or illustra- 
tion ! Do we not feel it to-day in every throb of our hearts, though 
the long years have rolled away, though three and one-half decades 
have done their sad work of effacement ? 

I would like to show you Jackson as a man, for I think that only 
those who were near him knew him — and to them the picture of him 
as a man with the heart of a man, is nobler — his memory as a true 
Christian gentleman is dearer — and he himself is greater — than even 
he seemed as a soldier. Under the grave and generally serious man- 
ner, sometimes almost stern, there were strong human passions domi- 
nated by his iron will — there was intense earthly ambition. The first 
time I was under fire the attempt to diagnose my feelings did not dis- 
cover anything that I recognised as positive enjoyment. I was not 
clearly and unmistakably conscious of that feeling until after I got out 
of it. I told General Jackson frankly what my feelings were, and 
asked him how he felt the first time he experienced it. Just a glimpse 
of his inner nature flashed forth in a most unusual expression. "Afraid 
the fire would not be hot enough for me to distinguish myself," he 
promptly replied. 

There was in this great soldier a deep love for all that is true, for 
the beautiful, for the poetry of life, and a wealth of rich and quick 
imagination for which few would give him credit. Ambition ? Yes, 
far beyond what ordinary men possess. And yet, he told me when 
talking in my tent one dreary winter night near Charlestown, that he 
would not exchange one moment of his life hereafter for all the earthly 
glory he could win. I would not tell these things except that it is 
good for you and your children that you should know what manner of 
man Stonewall Jackson was. 

His view of war and its necessities was of the steniest. "War 
means fighting; to fight is the duty of a soldier; march swiftly, strike 
the foe with all your strength and take away from him everything you 



16 

can. Injure him in every possible way, and do it quickly." He 
talked to me several times about the " black flag " and wondered if in 
the end it would not result in less suffering and loss of life, but he 
never advocated it. 

A sad incident of the battle of Fredericksburg stirred him very 
deeply. As we stood that night at our camp waiting for some one to 
take our horses, he looked up at the sky for a moment and said, ' ' How 
horrible is war." I replied, "Yes, horrible, but what can we do? 
These people at the North, without any warrant of law, have invaded 
our country, stolen our property, insulted our defenceless women, hung 
and imprisoned our helpless old men, behaved in many cases like an 
organized band of cut-throats and robbers. What can we do ? " 
"Do," he answered, and his voice was ringing, "Do; why shoot 
them." At Port Republic, an officer commanding a regiment of 
Federal soldiers and riding a snow white horse was very conspicuous 
for his gallantry. He frequently exposed himself to the fire of our 
men in the most reckless way. So splendid was this man's courage 
that General Ewell, one of the most chivalrous gentlemen I ever knew, 
at some risk to his own life, rode down our line and called to his men 
not to shoot the man on the white horse. After a little while, how- 
ever, the officer and his white horse went down. A day or so after, 
when General Jackson learned of the incident, he sent for General 
Ewell and told him not to do such a thing again ; that this was no or- 
dinary war and the brave and gallant Federal officers were the very 
kind that must be killed. 

His temper, though capable of being stirred to profoundest depths, 
was singularly even. When most provoked he showed no great excite- 
ment. When the Secretary of War treated him so discourteously that 
Jackson resigned his commission, he showed no great resentment or 
indignation. He was the only man in the army who was not uuid 
and excited. Two days after Malvern Hill, when his staff did not get 
up in the morning as soon as he had ordered them to do, he quietly 
ordered his servant, Jim, to pour the coffee into the road and to put 
the mess chest back into the wagon and send the wagon off with the 
train, and Jim did it, but he showed no temper, and several days 
after when I described the ludicrous indignation of one of his staff' at 
missing his breakfast that day, he laughed heartily over the incident, 
for he often showed a keen sense of humor; and when he laughed (as 
I often saw him do) he did it with his whole heart. He would catch 
one knee with both hands, lift it up, throAV his body back, open wide 



17 

his mouth, and his whole face and form be convulsed with mirth — but 
there was no sound. 

His consideration for his men was very great and he often visited 
the hospital with me and spoke some words of encouragement to his 
soldiers. The day after the fight at Kernstown as we were preparing 
to move further up the Valley, as the enemy was threatening to attack 
us, I said to him, "I have not been able to move all our wounded." 
And he replied, "Very well, I will stay here until you do move 
tliem." I have seen him stop while his army was on the march to 
help a poor simple woman find her son, when she only knew that this 
son was in "Jackson's Company." He first found out the name of 
her county, then the companies from that county, and by sending 
couriers to each company, he at last found the boy and brought him 
to his mother. And never can I forget his kindness and gentleness to 
me when I was in great sorrow and trouble. He came to my tent and 
spent hours with me, comforting me in his simple, kindly Christian 
way, showing a depth of friendship and affection which can never be 
forgotten. There is no measuring the intensity with which the very 
soul of Jackson burned in battle. Out of it he was very gentle. In- 
deed, as I look back on the two years that I was daily, indeed hourly, 
with him, his gentleness as a man, his great kindness, his tenderness 
to those in trouble or affliction — the tenderness indeed of a woman — 
impress me more than his wonderful prowess as a great warrior. 

A short time before the battle of the second Manassas, there came 
from this town to join the Liberty Hall Volunteers a fine lad, whose 
parents, living here, were dear friends of General Jackson. The 
General asked him to stay at his headquarters for a few days before 
joining his company, and he slept and messed with us. We all be- 
came much attached to the young fellow, and Jackson, in his gentle, 
winning way, did his best to make him feel at home and at his ease, 
the lad's manners were so gentle, kindly and diffident, and his beard- 
less, blue-eyed, boyish face so manly and so handsome. Just before 
the battle he reported for duty with his company. The night of the 
day of the great battle I was telling the General of the wounded as we 
stood over a fire where black Jim, his servant, was making some coffee. 
I mentioned many of the wounded and their condition, and presently, 
calling by name the lad we all loved, told him that he was mortally 
wounded. Jim, faithful, brave, big-hearted Jim, God bless his mem- 
ory! rolled on the ground, groaning in his agony of grief, but the 
General's face was a study. The muscles were twitching convulsively 



18 

and his eyes were all aglow. He gripped me by the shoulder till it 
hurt me and in a savage, threatening manner asked why I left the boy. 
In a few seconds he recovered himself and turned and walked off into 
the woods alone. He soon came back, however, "and I continued my 
report of the wounded and the dead. We were still sitting by the fire 
drinking the coffee out of our tin cups when I said, "We have won 
this battle by the hardest kind of fighting." And he answered me 
very gently and softly, ' ' No, no, we have won it by the blessing of 
Almighty God." 

When General Gregg, of South Carolina, was wounded at Freder- 
icksburg an interesting incident occurred. General Jackson had had 
some misunderstanding with Gregg, the nature of which I do not now 
recall. The night after this gallant gentleman and splendid soldier 
was mortally wounded I told General Jackson, as I generally did of 
friends or prominent men killed and wounded. General Gregg was 
one of the most courteous and gallant gentlemen that I had ever known. 
He exposed himself that day in a way that seemed unnecessary, so 
much so indeed, that Colonel Pendleton, of Jackson's staff, rode up to 
him and, knowing he was quiet deaf, shouted to him that the Yankees 
were shooting at him. ' ' Yes, sir ; thank you, ' ' he replied, ' ' they 
have been doing so all day." When I told General Jackson that 
Gregg was badly injured, he said, " I wish you would go back and see 
him, I want you to see him." I demurred a little, saying it had not 
been very long since I had seen him and that there was nothing more 
to be done for him. He said, ' ' I wish you to go back and see him 
and tell him I sent you." So I rode back to the Yerby House, saw 
General Gregg and gave him the message. W^hen I left his bedside 
and had gotten into the hall of the house I met General Jackson, who 
must have ridden close behind me to have arrived there so soon. He 
stopped me, asked about General Gregg, and went into the room to 
see him. No one else was in the room and what i)assed between the 
two officers will never be known, I waited for him and rode back to 
camp with him. Not a word was spoken on that ride by either of us. 
After we reached the camp occurred the brief conversation I have 
quoted as to the horrors of war. 

A very remarkable illustration of Jackson's religious liberality was 
shown just before the battle of Chancellorsville. AVe had been ordered 
to send to the rear all surplus baggage, and — to illustrate how rigidly 
this was done — only one tent, and that a small one, was allowed for 
the headquarters of the corps. It was intended to make the campaign 



19 

of 1863 a very active one. "We must make this campaign," said 
Jackson, "an exceedingly active one. Only thus can a weaker 
country cope with a stronger. It must make up in activity what it 
lacks in strength, and a defensive campaign can only be made success- 
ful by taking the aggressive at the proper time. Don't wait for the 
adversary to become fully prepared, but strike him the first blow." 
When all the tents, among other surplus baggage, were taken away, a 
Roman Catholic priest of one of the Louisiana regiments sent in his 
resignation because he could not perform the duties of his office without 

the privacy of a tent. Jackson asked me about Father . I 

told him he was one of the most useful men in time of battle that we 
had; that I would miss his services very much. He ordered that this 
Roman Catholic priest should retain his tent, and he was the only man 
in the corps who had that privilege. 

We now approach the close of Jackson's career. Wonderful career! 
Wonderful in many respects, and to some minds more wonderful in 
that it took him only two years to make his place in history. Caesar 
spent eight years in his first series of victories, and some two years 
more in filling out the measure of his great reputation. Napoleon, 
teaching the lesson of indifference to danger, to the boys he gathered 
around him, after the fatal Russian campaign, said, "The cannon balls 
have been flying around our legs for twenty years." Hannibal's ca- 
reer occupied about fifteen years. No other great commander in the 
world's history has in so short a time won so great a fame as Jackson. 
Two years crowded with weighty deeds now draw to a close and Chan- 
cellorsville witnesses perhaps the most important single incident of his 
life as a soldier. The whole story has been too often told. Hooker, 
in command of what was called by the North "the finest army on the 
planet, ' ' crossed the Rappahannock and marched to Chancellorsville. 
He had 123,000 soldiers, Lee less than 58,000. Notwithstanding, 
Hooker was frightened at his own temerity in coming within strikino- 
distance of Lee and Jackson, and he at once set his whole army to 
work to throw up intrenchments and make abatis of the most formid- 
able character. Lee and Jackson had to meet the present difficulty 
without the aid of a large portion of their army, absent with Long- 
street. Lee and Jackson ! How well I remember their meeting be- ) 
fore this battle and their confiding conference! How these two men 
loved and trusted each other! AYhere in all history shall we find a 
parallel to their mutual faith and love and confidence ? I can find 
none. Said Jackson, "Lee is a phenomenon. I would follow him 



L' 



20 

blindfold." And Lee said to an aide-de-camp of Jackson's, who re- 
ported that Hooker had crossed the river, ' ' Go back and tell General 
Jackson that he knows as well as I what to do." After they arrived 
in front of Hooker our movements are described in a hitherto unpub- 
lished letter of General Lee's. Tliat great commander, after saying 
that he decided not to attack in front, writes as follows: " I stated to 
General Jackson, we must attack on our left as soon as practicable," 
and he adds, * ' In consequence of a report from General Fitz Lee, de- 
scribing the position of the Federal army, and the roads which he 
held with his cavalry leading to its rear. General Jackson — after 
some inquiry concerning the roads leading to the Furnace, undertook 
to throw his command entirely in Hooker's rear, which he accom- 
plished with equal skill and boldness." General Jackson believed 
the fighting qualities of the Army of Northern Virginia equal to the 
task of ending the war. During the Avinter preceding Chancellorsville, 
in the course of a conversation at Moss Neck, he said, "We must do 
more than defeat their armies ; we must destroy them. ' ' He went into 
this campaign filled with this stern purpose; ready to stretch to the 
utmost every energy of his genius, and push to its limits all his faith 
in his men, in order to destroy a great army of the enemy. I know 
that this was his purpose, for after the battle, when still well enough 
to talk, he told me that he had intended, after breaking into Hooker's 
rear, to take and fortify a suitable position, cutting him off' from the 
river and so hold him, until between himself and General Lee the 
great Federal host should be broken to pieces. He had no fear. It 
was then that I heard him say, "We sometimes fail to drive them 
from position; they always fail to drive us." 

Never can I forget the eagerness and intensity of Jackson on that 
march to Hooker's rear. His face was pale, his eyes flashing. Out 
from his thin, compressed lips came the terse command, " Press for- 
ward, press forward." In his eagerness, as he rode, he leaned over 
on the neck of his horse, as if in that way the march might be hurried. 
' * See that the column is kept closed and that there is no straggling, ' ' 
he more than once ordered, and ' ' Press on, press on, ' ' w'as repeated 
again and again. Every man in the ranks knew that we were engaged 
in some great flank movement, and they eargerly responded and pressed 
on at a rapid gait. 

Fitz Lee met us and told Jackson that he could show him the whole 
of Hooker's army if he went with him to the top of a hill near by. 
They went together, and Jackson carefully inspected through his glasses 



21 

the Federal command. He was so wrapped up in his plans that on his 
return he passed Fitz Lee without saluting or thanking him, and when 
he reached the column he ordered one aide to go forward and tell Gen- 
eral Rodes, who was in the lead, to cross the Plank Road and go 
straight on to the turnpike, and another aide to go to the rear of the 
column and see that it was kept closed up, and all along the line he 
repeatedly said, ' ' Press on, press right on. ' ' The fiercest energy pos- 
sessed the man, and the fire of battle fell strong upon him. When he 
arrived at the Plank Road he sent this, his last message, to Lee: "The 
enemy has made a stand at Chancellorsville. I hope as soon as prac- 
ticable to attack. I trust that an ever kind Providence will bless us 
with success." And as this message went to Lee, there was flashing 
along the wires, giving brief joy to the Federal Capital, Hooker's 
message, "The enemy must either ingloriously fly, or come out from 
behmd his defences and give us battle on our own ground, when cer- 
tain destruction awaits him." 

Contrast the two. Jackson's modest, confident, hopeful, relying on 
his cause and his God. Hooker's, frightened, boastful, arrogant, 
vamglorious. The two messages are characteristic of the two men and 
the two people. 

But this battle has been so often described in its minutest detail that 
I forbear to tax your patience. I forbear for another reason. While 
I can write about it, I cannot speak of it to old soldiers without more 
emotion than I care to show. The result of that great battle the great 
world knows. Except for the unsurpassed, the wonderful campaign of ~ 
1864, this is perhaps the finest illustration of General Lee's genius for 
war, and yet, in writing to Jackson he says: "I have just received 
your note informing me that you are wounded. I cannot express my 
regret at its occurrence. Could I have directed events I would have 
chosen, for the good of the country, to have been disabled in your stead. 

"I congratulate you on the victory, which is due to your skill and 
energy. ' ' 

See the noble spirit of our great commander ! Not further removed is 
pole from pole than is any mean jealousy, or thought of self, in his 
great soul. He at heart obeyed the hard command that " In honor 
ye prefer one another. ' ' This note displays his greatness, yet it is also 
history, in that we know on his testimony that Jackson shared with 
him the glory of that battle. These great soldiers loved and trusted 
one another, and in death they are not divided. How sacred is the soil 
of Lexington ! for here they rest side by side. 



22 

The story of Jackson's death is so familiar to you all that, though 
intimately associated with its scenes, I will not narrate it. I will only 
declare that he met this great enemy as he had met all others, calmly 
and steadily, expecting, as always, to conquer, but now trusting, not 
in his own strength, not as heretofore in the prowess of mortal arms, 
nor in the splendid fibre of mortal courage, but in the unseen strength 
upon which he always relied — the strength that never failed him — and 
so, foreseeing the rest that awaited him on the other side, he crossed 
over the river. ' ' My hand is on my mouth, and my mouth is in the 
dust." Already I have told you much that you already knew. In 
this I beg you to observe, I have but fulfilled my promise. My apol- 
ogy is that we are in Lexington, and that we stand by the grave of 
Jackson. Under such circumstances love does not seek new stories to 
tell, new incidents to relate. Just to its own heart or to some sympa- 
thizing ear it goes over the old scenes, recalls the old memories, tenderly 
dwells upon and tells them over and over again. Says farewell, and 
comes back again and stands silent in the presence of the dead. And 
so I finish what I had to say, and bid farewell to Stonewall Jackson. 
And yet, all is not said, for here in Lexington, even in the presence of 
his mighty shade, our hearts bow down and we are awed by another 
presence, for the towering form beside him is that of Robert Lee. 

Thought and feeling and power of expression are paralyzed. I 
cannot help you now with words, to tell all that is in your hearts. 

Time fails, and I trust to your memories to recall a group more fa- 
miliar, in whose presence, perhaps, we would not be so oppressed, and 
yet a list of names that ought to be dear to Lexington. I think that 
in the wide, wide world no town of equal size has had so long a list of 
glorious dead, so many around whose memories a halo of glory gathers. 
Reverently I salute them all. 

And so I leave the grave of my General and my friend, knowing that 
for centuries men will come to Lexington as a Mecca, and to this grave 
as a shrine, and wonderingly talk of this man and his mighty deeds. 
I know that time will only add to his great fame. I know that his name 
will be honored and revered forever, just as I know that the beautiful 
river, flowing near by, will sing an unceasing requiem to his memory, 
just as a know that the proud mountains, like some vast chain of sen- 
tinels, will keep eternal watch over his honored grave. 



A.S. 



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